Although my previous series with this same title has long been since removed, I figured it was time to revive it in this post-2.0 age and start a new collection of opinions, based on the experience of players and the planes they have played that fit within the following categories. Without further ado, let's get going and chime in with your thoughts and reasons....

The Good.

This premium or tech tree plane makes you a rockstar, your "go to" machine to prowl up high or down low, your flying signature. Your Excalibur that you weld versus and defeat foes, real or artificial. This is your game changer, no matter the circumstances.

The Bad.

You wouldn't gift or wish this aircraft on your worst enemy and even feel slightly bad for the person on the opposite team flying one (even shed a tear or two for somebody using it on your own team). In your opinion, nothing more than a disaster with wings, just looking for a place to happen.

The Curious.

For some odd, almost irrational reason, you keep this plane, despite the urge on one or numerous occasions to sell it. Perhaps, you gave in, sold it, but bought it/put in a ticket to get it back (let's say you have done this more than once too!). Not the strongest perform in your hangar, but never a complete disappointment either, something about it you can't put your finger on....

I remember The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from the days of yore. That was an interesting and often funny read. Interesting to see how things changed with a new patch or version update. The moral to that story is, keep your planes. What sucks today may be the OP sky ruler tomorrow.

The god.... I mean Good: Tier VI German Spit DB. It has it all. Firepower, speed and altitude.

The bad: Tier II (if memory serves) Russian Pegasus. Pegasus is Latin for bullet catcher. You get to the battle just in time to get shot down. There were a few rocket geniuses that put it's ordinance to far better use than I ever could but even so, she could never carry unless the battle came down to hide and run the clock out. Maybe an old timer can help out with this. At release was the gift pigasus a tier I or tier II? And is that the same tier I we see bots flying today?

The Curious: Tier IV British Bristol 146. It would fall in the UGLY category if this was the good, bad & ugly for sure. She's ugly, slow and not much fun to fly. That being said, she pulls off big numbers in air kills and wins. Go figure! Even in the way back when, she did this same thing. I kept thinking, "man this plane is crap", then look at my stats in her?!? I guess she ain't so bad. She is definitely my Curious pick.

Thanks for starting this back up, Quesnel. This should be a good read for a long time.

The magnificent tier VI Focke Wulf Fw190 A-5. This is the plane I turn to when I'm having a bad day and need to murderise some nubs. She's fast, she's deadly and she's underrated. People see Focke Wulfs and think NOMNOMNOM. I take their noms and fart in their general direction! While the Batplane is a lean, mean fighting machine and the Boomerang is Death from Down Under, the A-5 is my pick because of her combination of tiering with firepower and performance.

The Bad

The truly awful tier III Grumman F3F. I thought the F2F was a great little plane. I saw the F3F had similar maneuverability and better firepower and thought it would be great. I was wrong. This overgrown tub of lard is as obsolete as the Polish Air Force in 1939. It has maneuverability, yes, but it CRAWLS. Its so slow the Maus beat it to the buffet line. Its so fat the E100 feels slim. Its got firepower that makes the Panzer IIJ feel like a Death Star. And it is, to date, the only tech tree plane I free XP'd through in disgust rather than play one more game in it.

The Curious

The ridiculous tier VIII Mitsubishi J8M Shusui. I've only had about a dozen games in it... and only ever won ONE. My CP scores are in the low 3k range and every bot on the field seems to have a hardon for it. Yet... there's something delightful at hitting 5k and watching everyone stall out beneath you, then flipping over and punching holes in them as they struggle to stay in the air. There's something about climbing 2000m in six seconds that never fails to tickle me. It's a TERRIBLE airplane. But. Its. So. Funny

Thanks for putting this up, I will be interested to follow this one. Newer player, so I never had the chance to enjoy your previous version(s).

The Good - Tier IV I-17. Hard turning and chews up stuff. Brittle as all hell, but it's still my go to plane when I need a win or two to cheer me up after one of my 12 straight loss runs in something else.

The Bad - Any GAA you care to mention. I just cannot enjoy flying a bus designed to fly deliberately close to the very thing aircraft are meant to avoid contact with. Not to mention the fact that everyone wants to shoot you; people in the air, people on the ground...

The Curious - The P38. Not really my thing, boom and zoom, but for some reason this VERY American aircraft (fast, big guns and can't turn worth a damn) sees an outing quite a bit. No idea why, but I enjoy that one.

The Good - As much as I want to say the tier II I-5 ShKAS (it's utterly broken in that tier, good thing they didn't offer it for quite some time)...I'll pick the tier VIII XF5U "Pancake" (Flapjack if you will). It's what let me reach two Albion boxes in a hurry. Very good killing power and low-speed characteristics to match speed against heavy targets yet retaining enough thrust to climb high in pursuit of other heavy fighters and the durability to endure a lot of defensive fire. Never regret sidetracking the F4U, enduring the F7F, and free EXP the M39 cannons for it. There are so many to pick, but if I have to pick one it'd be the Pancake for sure.

The Bad - Tier IX Focke-Wulf Ta 183 "Huckebein". Having access to S011 turbine in tier 9 is utterly useless when your armaments are hopelessly outdated...you either use the tier 6 level MG 151/20 or use the 262's crappy MK 108 and pray to hit while flying at really high speeds...not for turnfighting and armaments inadequate for zooming effectively. I got it for its "Huckebein" name only and I've retrained the pilot to Messerschmitt line and life suddenly got better...

[Dis]honorable mention: Any fighter that heavily/totally rely on derp/very large guns (The entire heavy Yak/prototypes from Yak-9 onwards, Ta 152). Can't hit anything to save my life with my 300+ ping and whatnot...

The Curious - Tier VII Republic P-47N. Serves me well enough as mid-range multirole for those pesky multirole EXP missions (Along with J4M which I do much better in) and the eight MG-53s are still sort of relevant. Can't say I like the playstyle, but it's done me some good service...including being a reliable platform to rocket some poor bombers with (10 rockets with enough staying power to sit in defensive fire for some time).

Toggle, on 12 February 2018 - 08:38 AM, said:

The bad: Tier II (if memory serves) Russian Pegasus. Pegasus is Latin for bullet catcher. You get to the battle just in time to get shot down. There were a few rocket geniuses that put it's ordinance to far better use than I ever could but even so, she could never carry unless the battle came down to hide and run the clock out. Maybe an old timer can help out with this. At release was the gift pigasus a tier I or tier II? And is that the same tier I we see bots flying today?

I'd rather have the Pegas over the Wirraway any day...because I still can fry entire sectors with the former while the latter is totally reliant on bombs and has extremely poor forward firepower that cannot be augmented.

WoWP makes a great jousting game...especially with the 262 and people busy in furballs...
I am deaf, silent, and fly with unrealistic controls. Do not count on me to carry - my back's already broken from overweight.

The Good, La-7, this plane just performs well for me. It turns well enough, climbs well enough, has enough speed and altitude as well as more the enough firepower with 3x23mm cannons to give pretty much every other plane in it's tier trouble.

honorable mention, Bf.109B (I have this plane since the first week the game went live it has never left my hangar since), Ki-61 and Spitfire Mk Ia (yes I have the pilot)

The Bad, Fw.190D even though it is one of my favorite WWII planes the in-game version sits firmly in the Bad category for me. A near total lack of speed, climb and maneuverability along with abysmal stall characteristics makes it the worst plane in the game at this point for me. With all those guns if something gets in front of it they are toast, but unless it's a German heavy or a bomber if it gets in front of you it's entirely their fault.

dishonorable mention, Me.265

The Curious, the Skua, this thing keeps finding it's way back into my hangar. I've sold it and re-purchased it so many times I found 3 complete crews in my barracks for it last time I bought it. This plane is not good at anything, but it's not bad at anything either. Looking back I had an 81% win rate in it pre-2.0, only 1 battle since 2.0 but it was decent 5 kills 4 assists with 2 ADF kills and 1 ADF assists. This plane is like a sinus infection for my hangar, it keep coming back.

honorable mention, Yak-9 and Yak-1

The Ugly, Vickers Venom, this thing is so ugly I can't bring myself to fly it, at all.

The Bad, Fw.190D even though it is one of my favorite WWII planes the in-game version sits firmly in the Bad category for me. A near total lack of speed, climb and maneuverability along with abysmal stall characteristics makes it the worst plane in the game at this point for me. With all those guns if something gets in front of it they are toast, but unless it's a German heavy or a bomber if it gets in front of you it's entirely their fault.

Funny - I like the Dora. The only reason it didn't make the "Good" list is because at tier 7, the competition is a lot tougher than for the A-5 at tier 6. I also don't really enjoy the mixed firepower as much as the quad 20s

The Curious: Tier 5 FW 190. This plane seems like it has all the right ingredients, but something on my end is missing. I do enjoy the plane, but I can't figure out how to make her sing. I think I need to play her more like a heavy hybrid.

This isn't dueling pistols at dawn. This is war. You sneak up behind your enemy and you bash him over the skull. I know this, so does Scar. That's why I'm gonna kill him.

The good: Spitfire V DB605. This plane does it all, and does it all with style and grace.

The bad: Most low-tier American planes. The F3F, the P-36, the P-40. Big skip. Some are outstanding, like the XP-31. But mostly I need to sell all those to free up hangar slots.

The curious: German heavy fighters. Some days are so, so good with those aircraft, I just can't miss, and they are racking up the silver and EXP. Other days, it's three faceplants and the squall line. I just don't get it. But I won't sell, because I like the idea.

When two pegasus meet it's customary to have a duel or it used to be. rockets at 1000 meters.

I wish they would have made it available to everyone because even if it is a slow ugly duckling,it can so some strange things like fly slow enough to stall out anyone behind you so they wind up in front of you.Then they are rocket bait.

When two pegasus meet it's customary to have a duel or it used to be. rockets at 1000 meters.

I wish they would have made it available to everyone because even if it is a slow ugly duckling,it can so some strange things like fly slow enough to stall out anyone behind you so they wind up in front of you.Then they are rocket bait.

The Pegas isn't an airplane. She's a very cleverly disguised Mi-24 Hind gunship.

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, Paris, 13 Nov. 1787

Tier VI Hawker Tornado; somebody forcibly married a Fw190 to a Spitfire and got a plane with most of the best qualities of both; as pure absolute icing then they gave it rockets.

Close runner up - tier IV LaGG-3 series (4); it's a downscaled low altitude only, albeit still versatile, Tornado that likewise has rockets.

Quesnel, on 12 February 2018 - 04:27 AM, said:

The Bad.

Tier VI P-47B Thunderbolt; whatever I needed this plane to be doing at any particular point in a match it was 99.9% of the time incapable of performing with any amount of success, and usually not at all.

Close runner up - tier VII F7F Tigercat; it is possible to have a good match with this aircraft.... unfortunately that was usually on the map configuration and team lineup for the battle where I queued a different plane.

Quesnel, on 12 February 2018 - 04:27 AM, said:

The Curious.

Tier V SNCASE SE 100; referred to by a clanmate as a ''Volkswagen with wings'' this altitude challenged ''heavy'' totes about a rear gunner who is often on a leisurely cafe break while nuancing the view and/or ride.

Close runner up - tier V Hawker Hurricane IID; never sure exactly what it is this plane is supposed to be used for in a match, other than to maybe be commented upon by human players on either team.

Edited by Soylent_Red_Isnt_People, 12 February 2018 - 06:34 PM.

"If they don't chase you after a mile, they don't chase ya.... Maybe it's two miles...." --- "You wanna play it soft, we'll play it soft. You wanna play it hard, let's play it hard."

The tier X Messerschmitt Me.P1102 "Drache" ground attacker. This plane is ridiculously good. Heavy guns, good armor, excellent speed with good tailgun field of fire and damage....if it wasn't for her deck-only altitude handling, she'd be a killer heavy fighter. As it is, she's one of the most fun ground attackers in the game; using her speed to leverage maps and control points, she can get anywhere before the IL-40P shows up and even tier X jets have a hard time keeping up with a Drache that is laying on the boost.

The Bad.

The tier X Messerschmitt Me.P1101 "Erzengel" (Arch-angel) used to be a great fighter. She had all the attributes of the Bf.109 line; great speed, great altitude, good handling in her altitude band, with the lightest variety of cannons found on German fighters. Her guns outranged the MGs of the F-86 and provided more reliable damage than the MiG-15 and the tier X La series jet. Then for reasons that still haven't been explained the 1101 had her speed knocked down, her maneuverability halved, her altitude dropped below every other tier X fighter, and the firing duration and accuracy of her cannons was nerfed. This plane literally got crapped on and still hasn't caught her stride yet in 2.0. She can't kill bombers and can't win air superiority in a dogfight. Utterly useless.

The Curious.

The tier X Blohm und Voss Bv.P215.LGBTXYZ is a monstrous multirole fighter, she carries the most rockets of any aircraft in the game, being outfitted with 50+ R4M rockets fired shotgun style in salvos from her nose, with four wgr410 rockets under her wings. Supplementing that impressive loadout is a pair of excellent forward firing cannons and a dual 13.2mm MG turret for rear defense. I've found her very good at eliminating high flying bombers and heavies, but she struggles at everything else.

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, Paris, 13 Nov. 1787

This is an interesting bit of a topic, figure I'll give my two cents on it:

The Good:

IL-10M, the combination of everything together once mastered makes it a hilarious troll aircraft, able to dogfight even the J7W1 and sweep plants with relative ease, especially when somebody comes to try and defend it.

The Bad: Difficult to think of a plane I hate, but I will probably go with the Fw-190 A-1, though I never really hated it, it's so brutally average in everything and even lacking in some aspects that almost everything in its tier has a way to combat it, and if it's in a tier 6 match it's just plain dead. However, I found it interesting to fly, and after revisiting it recently found myself liking it, but couldn't fly it for too long before I would start to flip a table from constantly getting matched up against tier 6 aircraft. I love challenge but sometimes you just have to throw in the towel before you go ballistic, Spit V's especially were infuriating to fight.

The Curious: The F7U, it's not a particularly great tier 10 aircraft anymore, but for some strange reason I'm attracted to its characteristics. I don't fly it much yet I always have a strange desire to fly it, maybe it's just the looks, but I've been trying to get more time in it to see if I can properly form an opinion on it.

The Curious: The F7U, it's not a particularly great tier 10 aircraft anymore, but for some strange reason I'm attracted to its characteristics. I don't fly it much yet I always have a strange desire to fly it, maybe it's just the looks, but I've been trying to get more time in it to see if I can properly form an opinion on it.

The Vought F7U Cutlass has a double draw for me.

1. She was a result of Operation Paperclip; we snagged Dr Vogt from the Blohm und Voss theoretical aeronautic design team (The guy who designed or pioneered the ideas behind a lot of the weird looking late war German x-planes) and used his ideas to make the odd-looking F7U, which while strange looking, was more conventional than any of his previous designs.

2. I think she looks like a Chibi style F-14 Tomcat, and used to have a skin for her that gave her a 1980s era USN paint scheme and decals.

By the way; like the avatar - Shokaku's a cutie.

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, Paris, 13 Nov. 1787